Isopet (aka Fables) of Marie de France

The Isopet or Fables, is a collection of fables based on the genre most famously employed by the Greek writer Aesop of Thrace. In the course of the 12th century, Marie de France collected between 102 and 104 fables from all different sources, some of which can be traced to previous fable collections and othes which cannot.

It is clear that Marie’s collection of fables was not widespread in Italy. The sole manuscript witness, listed below, appers to have links to Italy, but those connections have been questioned by some scholars while others have maintained the manuscript’s Italian, and specifically Venetian, provenance.

The Fables contained in the Paris 2173 manuscript are part of a compilation that includes several didactic works, among them the Image du Monde, six independentfabliaux, and a so-called Dit de la Femme, all in French.

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